“Melted” Samsung Galaxy S3 Was a Hoax

Last month, a student claimed that his Samsung Galaxy S3 melted in a display of spontaneous combustion. However, it has since turned out that a friend had previously microwaved the phone. The cheeky sausage.

A member of the Ireland forums dilo2k10 claimed that his phone exploded without cause last month. He claimed what while he was driving along, “with my Galaxy S3 in my car mount when suddenly a white flame sparks and a bang came out of the phone.” However, further investigation by Samsung has found that the conflagration was caused by an “external power source”, namely a microwave.

As the sort of occurrence that could spark a recall of millions of devices, Samsung was naturally keen to extinguish the flames of the controversy. Working with a fire investigation unit, Samsung found that “the device was not responsible for the cause of the fire”, that ” The only way it was possible to produce damage similar to the damage recorded within the owner’s damaged device was to place the devices or component parts within a domestic microwave.”

The forum poster has since retracted the original claims, saying that “The damage to the phone was caused by another person, although they were attempting to recover the phone from water this later caused the damage shown on the phone… This was not a deliberate act but a stupid mistake.”

So microwaving a gadget is not a good way to save it from water damage. Who’d have thunk it?